My other recipe using Jersey Royal potatoes is more of a traditional one. For this one, they’re gently boiled and then roasted to perfection, served with Chantenay carrots and deliciously lean New Zealand lamb leg steaks, slowly cooked in a rich Barolo red wine and mint sauce.

1 lemon, zest & juice

1 lamb leg steak per person

10ml Rapeseed oil

2 Red onions, chopped finely

10ml Plain flour

15ml Mint sauce concentrate

250ml Barolo red wine

100ml Vegetable stock

Bay leaf

Salt & pepper to taste

Rapeseed oil sufficient to roast the potatoes

Jersey Royal potatoes

Chantenay carrots

Broccoli

Zest the lemon and squeeze the lemon juice over the lamb steaks. Toss to coat, cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours to start to tenderise the meat.

Heat the oven to 180℃/160℃ fan.

In a large ovenproof pan (with a lid), heat the oil and fry the onions gently until transparent.

Turn up the heat and fry the lamb leg steaks until browned on both sides. Remove the lamb to a plate to keep warm.

Evenly sprinkle the flour over the onions and oil and mix thoroughly to a paste (no floury lumps).

Jersey Royals are a delicious, nutty flavoured, little new potato, grown exclusively on the beautiful British island of Jersey, just off the west coast of France. They’re naturally fertilised with Vraic (seaweed) that is washed up on the shores from the tidal flows and have been grown on Jersey for over 130 years. The majority of these tasty little morsels are still hand lifted from the ground by the island’s 20 major farmers. They’re high in vitamin C and fibre as well as containing less calories than both pasta and rice. They have less fat than cous cous and they’re gluten free too. Their slow releasing carbohydrates make them perfect for a low GI diet; keeping your fuller for longer thereby keeping hunger at bay.

In order for potatoes to be sold as Jersey Royals, they must be grown on the island and they have been awarded EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), thereby ensuring their provenance and integrity. Jersey grows, harvests and exports between 30-40,000 tonnes per year, and at the peak season in May, can export up to 1,500 tonnes per day! That’s a whole lot of potatoes!!!!

So, what can you do with Jersey Royals then? Well, they’re absolutely perfect for boiling, steaming or roasting in their skins. Having cold with a salad, enrobed in creamy garlic infused mayonnaise, sprinkled gently with freshly chopped chives. Alternatively, why not make a delicious vegetable curry with them?

For as long as I remember, mum always lovingly made us a Sunday roast dinner with home made Yorkshire puddings. Though I always make mine by eye and estimate my quantities, just the way mum taught me all those years ago, in order to publish a recipe for you, I’ve had to translate my ‘eye’ into measurable quantities, so here goes!

1. Heat your oven to 240˚C.2. Pour your oil into a 25cm/10″ square Pyrex dish and put it into your oven to heat up.3. In a bowl, add the flour, eggs, milk and salt.4. Beat or whisk until smooth and lump free. The consistency you’re looking for is that of single cream.5. Stir in your chopped onion and set to one side to rest.6. When the surface of your oil is shimmering, but not smoking, reduce the oven temperature to 220˚C and give your batter a quick stir.7. Quickly remove the dish from the oven, but keep the oven door open for as short a time as possible. It’s ESSENTIAL to keep as much heat into the oven as is possible.8. Pour the batter into the dish. It should sizzle as it hits the hot oil.9. Swirl the batter around and up all sides of the dish. This will help it start to rise up the dish as it cooks.10. Quickly open the oven and place your dish straight back in, closing the door before the heat escapes, then DO NOT open the door until it’s cooked.11. Stand back and watch your Yorkshire Pudding cook. You can see when it’s cooked as it’ll be risen into golden crowns and be an amazing golden brown colour.

* I always cook my Yorkshire Pudding in a Pyrex dish as you can guarantee that it’ll get wonderfully hot ready for your batter to go straight in and then it also won’t stick.* Have your oven door open for the shortest time possible. Don’t open it, take out your dish and leave it open whilst you pour your batter into it and then return it to the oven. It’s essential that you keep that oven HOT so it starts to cook the instant that it goes in.* Reserve a couple of tablespoons of your Yorkshire Pudding batter to transform your meat juices into the most incredible tasting gravy by following yesterday’s recipe.

Recently I was invited to take part in producing a dinner time recipe by the Central England Co-Op. The best bit was that I wasn’t limited in what I could come up with; I was given free range to produce an amazing plate of food for you, so I chose to do one of my all time favourite meals – a good old Sunday roast! Come and share my creation and enjoy!

1. Heat your oven to 180C/160C fan.2. If not already done by your butcher, score the skin of the pork through the rind, but not right the way through to the flesh.3. Pat the skin dry, then season with the salt and rub in well.4. Tuck pieces of the thyme into some of the slashes in the rind.5. Peel and quarter your onions and use these as a ‘trivet’ in the base of your roasting pan.

6. Place your pork joint on top of the onions, add 250ml of water and cover tightly with foil.7. Place in the oven and cook for 3-3½ hours until the meat is cooked through.8. Remove the meat from the oven, along with the onions.9. If you want to make crackling, then at this point, turn the oven up to 220C. Cut through the strings securing the pork joint and cut the rind away from the flesh.10. Cover the meat and onions with foil and allow to rest for 30 minutes.11. Place the pork rind on a wire rack in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes until it has bubbled up and is crispy.12. Add the pear cider to the roasting tin over a medium heat and stir to remove all the residual flavours (you’ll often hear this called ‘de-glazing’ the pan).13. Transfer the gravy to a saucepan and bring to the boil, and then add the cream and reduce to a simmer. Don’t worry if it starts to look as if it’s splitting, it will come back together as it reduces.14. Allow the gravy to simmer gently, stirring occasionally. Season with freshly ground black pepper, to your own personal taste.15. Meanwhile, melt the butter and the oil in a pan then add the demerara sugar and stir through.16. Quarter the pears lengthways and remove the core (I left the skin on mine).17. Gently heat the butter and oil then cook the pears until they’re tender.

18. Using two forks, ‘pull’ the pork apart (rather than slice it). You’ll find that it’s lovely and tender and will do this easily.19. Serve the pulled pork with the pears and the pear cider gravy and a piece of crackling.20. I accompanied mine with gorgeous, crispy, roast potatoes and freshly steamed broccoli.

Enjoy!

I was sent £25 of food vouchers from the Central Co-Op with which to create my meal recipe. I also purchased additional pears and apples, along with some vanilla ice cream and made a crumble for dessert.